Level Ground Trading: Linking sustainability to long-term relationships

You go to the store.  You look for the fairly traded coffee.  You make the purchase.  What now?  Who benefits from your purchase?  Sure, you’re a satisfied consumer.  And, it’s more than just the coffee tasting good. You’ve just, through your purchase, contributed to a making the world a better, fairer place.  Really?  Have you […]

Including the "gutter" will help authenticate your organization's story

Scott McCloud understands what makes comics tick.  He’s gained that insight through his work as a comic artist, and his ongoing exploration into the why comics work.  I’ve read a couple of his books Understanding Comics (his best known book and which I highly recommend) and Re-inventing Comics.  His storytelling has shifted to the online […]

How all things connect: Adapting to unintended consequences in Hagonoy, Philippines

Rice farming was the main agricultural activity in Hagony, a Philippines coastal community, at least up to the 1980s. It was around that time that the salinity of the water started to rise; eventually to levels unacceptable for growing rice. Many believe the salinity increase stems from drainage canals and dikes built in the 1970s […]

Trying to balance conservation and development in San Antonio, Zambales, Philippines

Melchor Ventura is the Planning & Development Officer for San Antonio, a Municipality in Zambales province, Philippines. He is also involved in the eGov4MD project; an international collaborative, orchestrated by the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), bringing together various Filipino organizations, municipalities, and foreign nonprofits (e.g., CESO). The project will help Filipino municipalities […]

The 100 Mile Diet: A story of collaboration?

Does getting the job done closer to home align with collaborative best practice?  That’s the question I’m asking myself after reading The 100 Mile Diet – A Year of Local Eating by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon.  Published in 2007, this book became a bestseller, and inspiration for many around the world.  These folks are […]